COLUMN: Viewpoint – Increasing empathy with travel

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/02/2024 (461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I remember attending a panel discussion after 9/11 where participants brainstormed for ways to make the world safer. How could we cultivate a more open-minded, caring human race? How could we raise a future generation that was less isolationist and more inclusive?

One panel member proposed every teen should have to spend an extended period of time in a country very different from their own. It would help them realize there are many people in the world whose race, religion, culture, world view, economic status, education, and employment opportunities vary greatly from their own.

It would be a way to cultivate international friendships among the youth of the world that hopefully would have long-lasting positive repercussions.

Of course this was a kind of pipe-dream solution to humanity’s problems. But not one without merit.

New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof proposes something similar in one of his latest columns. He says the reason Americans often support such ill-advised decisions when it comes to matters of foreign affairs, international aid and immigration is because citizens of the United States are the least traveled among all the developed countries in the world. Less than half of Americans have passports.

Kristof claims time spent abroad erodes stereotypes we may have about other people and shores up our empathy, reminding us we share a common humanity with the other eight billion people in the world.

And Kristof isn’t recommending an expensive kind of travel but travel on a small budget where young people live with local families and work or study with kids their age. He isn’t referring either to so called ‘service’ or ‘mission’ trips where kids from North America go to ‘help’ others. Although such trips may be done with the best of intentions they imply that those going overseas think their way of life, religion, values, or method of doing things is superior to those of the country they visit. Instead the primary purpose of young people’s trips would be learning, working together, and bridge building.

Kristof suggests that high schools and universities need to provide far more opportunities for kids to study and work abroad at a very affordable cost. They could design programs that would be safe but challenging and provide the young people who take them an opportunity to see the world in new ways and commit themselves to improving it.

Both my sons were fortunate when they were young to spend an extended time working and studying in other countries, one in Benin, Africa and the other in Guatemala in Central America. I think those experiences gave them a much broader world view and enriched their education immeasurably.

I didn’t have the opportunity to travel much outside North America till I was in my fifties. Since then I have been lucky enough to visit dozens of destinations around the world, many places whose history, geography, culture, and religion I knew little about before.

Having spent time in Israel and Palestine I can view the current conflict there in a more nuanced and less judgmental way. Having spent time in Ukraine I understand why they feel their fight for independence is so important. Having lived in Hong Kong and traveled extensively in China I understand why people have trepidations about challenging their government.

Canadians are definitely more well-travelled then their southern neighbours. Seventy percent of us have passports. I’ve been thinking however that perhaps it is time for Canadian people my age to stop traveling and instead donate money to help the younger generation see the world. I agree with Nicholas Kristof that the benefits could be enormous for us all.